Tuesday, February 02, 2010

International Civil Rights Center and Museum Grand Opening

It was 11:30 Sunday night when I came to the grand realization that I had to crawl out of bed in just 3 and a half hours!

The Live Shots started at 5AM, I needed to be there by 4:15 and I had to make the otherwise 30 minute drive to downtown Greensboro over 2 day old Ice and Snow on this 15 degree morning.

In just a few short hours, after 15 years of stop and go work the Internation Civil Rights Center and Museum would be dedicated, the ribbon cut and the much ballyhooed site of the 1960 sit in movement would be a shrine to civil rights activists around the world.

It's also the place where anyone under the age of 30 or so can go and get a real understanding of what life was like for colored people before integration.

So on a day when blacks, whites and all others gathered to promote the racial harmony that some say is still not perfect, I manned my glass, both the TV and the still version, and sprayed digital bits and bytes over the scene much like the photogs 50 years removed gathered the iconic images of the 4 NC A&T University Students who sat down at the Woolworth's Counter and demanded service.

But I wasn't the only camera toting biped in the place.

Bloggers, Newsies, and curious onlookers manned cameras of all sizes and shapes.

And I probably didn't get the iconic photo that will last for 50 years.

Lenslinger captured this gem of all the photogs jockying for the ribbon cutting...

But to be there contributing 15 live shots with reporter Bob Buckley to TV Stations across the nation...

About TV Photog Blog

Chris Weaver is an Emmy, Murrow and NPPA award-winning veteran Television Photojournalist who has spent 16 years shooting, gathering and editing every possible type of video footage you can imagine.

Chris began his career in 1993 at a video production company in Wilson, NC shooting news for a local cable Newscast. In 1997 he went to WXLV ABC 45 News and then in 1998 to the (then a Fox O&O) WGHP Fox 8.

Outside of his full time duties as a News Photojournalist Chris tackles freenlance video projects on a part time basis. www.ChrisVideo.com.